I initially passed up buying this album the first time I saw it at a used CD store, but ended up grabbing it when I went to a different location and saw it again. Man, am I glad I did.
Not much is spoken about the formation and early years which led up to Cock Robin signing an agreement with CBS Records. In fact, even when they released their debut, it made little impact in the USA. Rather, the groups success was more so achieved in Europe, where they remained popular throughout the 80's. Oh well, America's loss, I suppose.
I picked up their 1985 self titled debut, which is also today's Retro Spin, because upon perusing the Wiki page for the album, I saw that it had high praise, as well as several successful singles. Though I knew nothing about them, I figured I'd take the chance at used CD prices, I.E., a few dollars.
I initially started at track two, When Your Heart Is Weak, one of the three singles from the record. It was okay, worthy of being added to the shuffle list, not because of anything special, but just because if you own it, and it's decent, what's the harm? Peter Kingsbery's vocals seemed passionate, and full of energy, and I could see the overall potential.
While I was initially going to skip over the third track, and jump to number four, The Promise You Made, another single, the following tune quickly grabbed my attention. Anna LaCazio stepped up to the mic to take lead, and this is where I was hooked. After letting tracks two and three played, I revisited number one, and was immediately greeted by a bass riff that said to me, "You see what you've been missing?"
As I let the rest of the album play, I went back to the band's Wiki page to dig in a little further, searching for what else I may have missed. Turns out, potentially a lot.
The band shrunk from the quartet of Peter Kingsbery, Anna LaCazio, Louis Molino III, and Clive Wright, to just Kingsbery and LaCazio for their 1987 follow up, After Here Through Midland. This second album was equally as popular in Europe, reaching number ten on their charts. 1989's First Love / Last Rites led to a temporary split of the two until 2006, but is considered the pique of their musical abilities and talent.
All the songs from their debut wrapped up, and I found myself transferring all but one or two to my shuffle list. This is definitely an album I recommend all of you take a listen to if you haven't heard it.
Basically, what I took from all of the above was that I was missing out in a big way by not knowing anything about Cock Robin. Not only was their debut album good, but it apparently only got better with subsequent albums. As such, I did the only thing I could think to do. I picked up their other two 80's records.
I love when that happens! I love it when I hear something that charges me up and invigorates me to hear more from a particular artist or group. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes things crash and burn. Based on what I've read about the band, I don't get that this will be the case this time around. But, I suppose that's a Retro Spin for another day.
Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.
Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.
THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
March 10, 1984
No comments:
Post a Comment